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Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Croft, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Croft and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Croft:
    • 40.048712, -89.588394
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Croft
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Croft ...

We found seven communities that share the name Croft.

Within Illinois, the name Croft is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • El Dorado County
      • This Croft is located in El Dorado County and lies 1,642 miles [2,642.5 km]<1> to the west of the Croft that is located in Menard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the El Dorado County community of Croft.
    • Kansas
      • Pratt County
      • This Croft is located in Pratt County and lies 535 miles [861 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Croft that is located in Menard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pratt County community of Croft.
    • North Carolina
      • Mecklenburg County
      • This Croft is located in Mecklenburg County and lies 578 miles [930.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Croft that is located in Menard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mecklenburg County community of Croft.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Croft lies 1,447 miles [2,328.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Croft that is located in Menard County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Clearfield County
      • This Croft is located in Clearfield County and lies 594 miles [956 km]<1> to the east of the Croft that is located in Menard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clearfield County community of Croft.
      • Indiana County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Croft [Indiana County].
    • South Carolina
      • Aiken County
      • This Croft is located in Aiken County and lies 621 miles [999.4 km]<1> to the southeast of the Croft that is located in Menard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Aiken County community of Croft.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Croft ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Cornland
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Elkhart
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Fancy Prairie
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fancy Prairie have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fancy Prairie
    • Fancy Prairie is located in Menard County
  • Green Acres
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Green Acres have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Acres
    • Green Acres is located in Sangamon County
  • Greenview
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greenview have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenview
    • Greenview is located in Menard County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 715 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Greenview <3>
  • Luther
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Luther have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
    • Luther is located in Mason County
  • Mason City
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • New Holland
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for New Holland have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Holland
    • New Holland is located in Logan County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 266 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Holland <3>
  • Peabody
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Peabody have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peabody
    • Peabody is located in Sangamon County
  • Sweet Water
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweet Water have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweet Water
    • Sweet Water is located in Menard County

How Far From Croft to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Croft to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Croft and extending to:

  • Petersburg, which is the Seat of Menard County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Croft to Petersburg, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 18 miles [29 km] to the south (S). The buggy would take five to six hours and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 673 miles [1,083.1 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 27 days and walking would take 39 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,344 miles [10,209.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,081 miles [11,395.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,963 miles [7,987.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Croft. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.gov

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Croft) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Croft. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.0487, Longitude: -89.5884    
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Croft could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Croft to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.715 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.538 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.017 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024